• The Quest

  • Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World
  • By: Daniel Yergin
  • Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
  • Length: 29 hrs and 26 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (898 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
The Quest  By  cover art

The Quest

By: Daniel Yergin
Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $24.50

Buy for $24.50

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

This long-awaited successor to Daniel Yergin’s Pulitzer Prize-winning The Prize provides an essential, overarching narrative of global energy, the principal engine of geopolitical and economic change.

A master storyteller as well as a leading energy expert, Daniel Yergin continues the riveting story begun in his Pulitzer Prize–winning book, The Prize. In The Quest, Yergin shows us how energy is an engine of global political and economic change and conflict, in a story that spans the energies on which our civilization has been built and the new energies that are competing to replace them.

The Quest tells the inside stories, tackles the tough questions, and reveals surprising insights about coal, electricity, and natural gas. He explains how climate change became a great issue and leads readers through the rebirth of renewable energies, energy independence, and the return of the electric car. Epic in scope and never more timely, The Quest vividly reveals the decisions, technologies, and individuals that are shaping our future.

©2011 Daniel Yergin (P)2011 Penguin

Critic reviews

“It is a cause for celebration that Yergin has returned with his perspective on a very different landscape...[I]t is impossible to think of a better introduction to the essentials of energy in the 21st century. The Quest is...the definitive guide to how we got here.” (The Financial Times)

“A sprawling story richly textured with original material, quirky details and amusing anecdotes...” (Wall Street Journal)

"[An] important book...a valuable primer on the basic issues that define energy today. Yergin is careful in his analysis and never polemical.... Despite that, The Quest makes it clear that energy policy is not on the right course anywhere in the world and that everyone - on the left and the right, in the developed and the developing world - need to rethink strongly held positions." (Fareed Zakaria, The New York Times Book Review)

What listeners say about The Quest

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    563
  • 4 Stars
    226
  • 3 Stars
    82
  • 2 Stars
    17
  • 1 Stars
    10
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    485
  • 4 Stars
    194
  • 3 Stars
    60
  • 2 Stars
    7
  • 1 Stars
    4
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    488
  • 4 Stars
    176
  • 3 Stars
    66
  • 2 Stars
    12
  • 1 Stars
    8

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent story

Very intriguing novel on the history of the energy indusrty. well written with a flow that makes it feel like fiction.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great read

As good as the Prize. Educational and informative. The world willl need oil for some time.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

must reading..

for anyone interested in politics, history, or any aspect of modern society.

This is a great author. I have read “the Prize” at least 3 times and this is as good. It is a great overview of energy. What he has a unique gift for is letting the reader understand the primacy the quest for and acquisition of energy has on everything in our modern life. The book is thorough but fast paced and covers every aspect of energy and provides the reader with a comprehensive understanding of both the recent history of the search for and development of energy sources but also a comprehensive understanding of where we are headed. Its also very level headed…I did not get any “political” agenda. Just the facts. There is no “coal is awful, we need to develop all renewable sources” or “oil is wonderful and will last forever”, rather there is continuous crituqes of previously expounded opinions and the reader can draw his/her own conclusions.
Finally the reading is perfect..well paced, not boring, just a great experience.
I could not recommend more highly..a great great book I am sure I will listen to again.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Outstanding history telling

It is impressive how Daniel Yergin
compile all those years of Energy history in a unique book.

A must read for everyone who wants to understand and learn more about how energy is intrinsically in our lives.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Expand your Understanding of Energy

The Quest's much grander than merely Oil. It will truly broaden your mind on Energy.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

In Depth History of Energy

This book gives a very detailed history of energy, mostly from the industrial revolution until today.
Highly recommend to the Energy nerds out there like myself.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Very educational

Much history of which I was unaware. I enjoyed the synopsis of individuals who made a critical difference. Excellent, impassioned naration.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Very interesting!

This is a very detailed and very interesting look back at how energy use and acquisition has impacted world development. Robert Petkoff does a wonderful job narrating the book, making it clear and easy to follow.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • NK
  • 07-05-19

The Quest

Great book. Many insights about the in and outs of the various energy business.....Not just oil but power too. There were a couple of things on the power side I did not agree with but appreciated another viewpoint.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Extensive review of today's energy supply

This book provides a broad review of the major energy sources, how they were developed, what is their current status, and the various energy security questions related to them. It appears well researched, and is quite interesting.

Note that the book does not discuss any future sources, or possible technological innovations, but is focused on the past and present of energy.

The performance is, in general, a good one, save for a strange production issue - there's no pause before starting a new chapter, so it's difficult to understand a new chapter is starting, and this is its title.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!